Shortly after haggling his means out of free-agent purgatory and into a brand new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kiké Hernández requested his spouse, Mariana, to analyze one other market. She contacted former Dodger Rich Hill’s spouse, Caitlin, with a request: Could the Hernándezes stay within the Hills’ home once more?
The Hills had purchased the property, situated within the Toluca Lake neighborhood, in 2017, quickly after Rich signed a $48 million contract. The household determined to not promote it after Hill’s ultimate season with the workforce in 2019. The home has since develop into a well-liked vacation spot amongst Dodgers personnel. Catcher Austin Barnes lived there one season. Manager Dave Roberts has inquired about its availability. When Hernández rejoined the workforce finally yr’s commerce deadline, he moved into the home, which is a handy 20-minute drive from Dodger Stadium, with entry to a few completely different highways.
“It’s very appealing, because of the location,” Hill mentioned.
But that’s not its solely promoting level; nearly as necessary is that the home-owner understands his tenants’ nomadic baseball life-style.
When looking for a spot to stay, gamers usually depend on one another’s suggestions, connections, and familiarity with baseball’s distinctive schedule and journey. That has led to a distinct form of sizzling range market every winter, when baseball gamers purchase, promote and commerce properties amongst themselves — swapping homes, directing younger gamers to the precise spots and passing sure key properties down because the cycle repeats itself.
It is just not unusual for gamers to report back to spring coaching and not using a residence for the common season. Sometimes free brokers signal later than anticipated; typically trades occur with out warning. In the ultimate days of February, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Justin Turner was nonetheless on the lookout for a lease within the suburbs of Toronto to sync up together with his one-year, $13 million contract. Caleb Ferguson, a New York Yankees reliever acquired in early February, was scrambling to seek out someplace on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with a park close by for his new child son. Surprised by a Feb. 11 commerce from the Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins reliever Steven Okert mentioned he had “no idea” the place he would stay within the Twin Cities. “I’ve never even been there before,” Okert mentioned.
The main drawback is the size of the lease. The common season lasts about six months. Renting a home usually requires an extended dedication. “It’s always a pain,” Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu mentioned. He described the method of discovering housing as “throughout my time in professional baseball, one of the hardest things to do,” which is why his spouse, Jordan, takes care of it. Spouses usually shoulder the load: Yency Almonte, the reliever who was traded from the Dodgers to the Chicago Cubs in January, will stay this summer season within the Chicagoland dwelling of Joe Kelly, the reliever who was traded from the Chicago White Sox to the Dodgers final summer season; their wives brokered the deal.
Yankee Stadium is DJ LeMahieu’s on-field dwelling; he rents one other residence to his fellow ballplayers. (Alex Trautwig / MLB by way of Getty Images)
In the offseason, LeMahieu lives within the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, Mich., the place he owns two properties. For practically a decade, he has rented out the secondary residence to numerous Tigers. So many gamers have stayed there that LeMahieu has misplaced monitor. The first tenant was second baseman Ian Kinsler. The longest-standing resident was pitcher Daniel Norris. “I think they all left the places better than they found them,” LeMahieu mentioned. “I came back and there was new stuff. Super clean. I was like, ‘Wow, this worked out really well.’”
In 2022, his ultimate yr in Milwaukee, reliever Brent Suter lived in a house as soon as occupied by former Brewers teammate Corey Knebel. Suter rented a townhouse via VRBO for his 2023 season with the Colorado Rockies. When he signed for 2024 with the Cincinnati Reds, his hometown workforce, Suter didn’t have to seek for a home. But he did have the ballplayer community to thank.
A couple of years earlier, whereas pitching for Cincinnati, Wade Miley bought a four-bedroom dwelling in close by Anderson Township, Ohio. An older couple began constructing on loads throughout the road. Miley finally realized his new neighbors have been Suter’s in-laws. He referred to as his former teammate. “When I’m done with the Reds, I’m selling you this house,” Miley advised Suter. Suter laughed on the provide. When Cincinnati positioned Miley on waivers after the 2021 season, Suter obtained one other textual content: “Go check out the house. We’ll open the garage for you.” Miley, Suter defined, “hooked us up with our dream house for life.”
During his time with the Cleveland Guardians, first baseman Carlos Santana lived in Bratenahl, Ohio, an prosperous suburb on the shores of Lake Erie. After Santana signed a three-year, $60 million cope with the Philadelphia Phillies heading into 2018, he rented his dwelling to former teammate Edwin Encarnación. Santana didn’t final lengthy in Philadelphia. The Phillies shipped him to the Seattle Mariners in December of 2018. Less than two weeks later, the Mariners traded Santana to Cleveland — in trade for Encarnación. Santana moved again into his previous home.
Edwin Encarnación and Carlos Santana have been Cleveland teammates in 2017. After that, issues bought extra sophisticated. (Duane Burleson / Getty Images)
Do not take complete pity on these athletes, who play in a league the place the big-league minimal wage is $740,000. Teams present them sources, suggestions and real property brokers. Their personal brokers usually do the identical. The collective bargaining settlement incorporates provisions that compensate them for his or her dwelling bills if they’re reduce or traded.
Their privilege nonetheless incorporates issues, and never each serendipitous swap ends fortunately. In the summer season of 2005, the Boston Red Sox acquired an infielder named Alex Cora from Cleveland in trade for fellow infielder Ramón Vázquez. The two Puerto Ricans have been buddies. They agreed to commerce homes. “The price was the same,” Cora mentioned. He had been dwelling in a four-bedroom, two-story place with a yard. He was aghast when he moved into Vázquez’s condominium close to Faneuil Hall. “It was a one-bedroom, a f—ing matchbox,” Cora mentioned.
The greenback does stretch additional away from the coasts. Ferguson, the Yankees reliever, grew up about 20 minutes outdoors of Columbus, Ohio, the house of Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate. He harbors goals of renting his dwelling there to at least one of the Clippers. He joked about his willingness to pay the utilities for potential tenants so long as they paid his mortgage. “I don’t want to make money off of you — I just want to stop losing it,” Ferguson mentioned.
Rich Hill stumbled into his position because the landlord of the Dodgers. During the 2021 season, Hill heard Barnes was commuting about two hours roundtrip to the ballpark. Barnes and his spouse, Nicole, had a new child son. The driving was draining. Hill talked about that his place in Toluca Lake was empty. “It’s a really nice house,” Barnes mentioned. “He just let us live there.”
Barnes had higher luck than Roberts, who discovered the home occupied when he requested Hill about renting it. Hernández met the identical destiny after signing his new cope with the Dodgers. Hill was already renting to a household for 2024. Turns out, non-ballplayers want homes, too.
“As much as I want to rent it to the guys,” Hill mentioned, “I can’t kick the people out who are there right now.”
(The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, Chad Jennings, Zack Meisel, C. Trent Rosecrans and Sahadev Sharma contributed to this report.)
(Illustration by Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photo of Kiké Hernández: Michael Zagaris / Oakland Athletics / Getty Images; Photo of Rich Hill: Will Newton / Getty Images; Photo of Wade Miley: Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire )
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